Howick Rotary held its annual Brian Hanlon Howick College 4 – Way Test Speech Contest for year 9 and 10 students last Tuesday evening.
Finalists Amelia Walmsley, Brooke Scully, Lily Moore and Ridhi Singh presented some very topical and thought-provoking speeches to a large audience of their families, college organising and supporting teachers and Rotary club guests and members.
Toastmasters organisation members Marlene Krone, Stephen Budai and Sean Walton were on hand to judge the speeches.
The speeches were judged on the basis of points awarded for content, organisation and delivery with the overall winner being the person with the best cumulative ranking.
The winner on the night was year 9 student Ridhi Singh whose subject was “Drink Driving”. Sean, who was lead judge, also provided the contestants with some adjudication comments and remarked on the “very high standard that the girls had achieved”.
He went on to say that of the four years that he has been involved, the standard this year was the highest he had seen.
The contest is held annually and this year was organised by college teachers Tom Stacey and Ann Botha in conjunction with Rotary’s Youth Committee Director Rob Mouncey. It commemorates former long serving Rotarian and past President Brian Hanlon’s contribution to the community and to education.
Rotary President Dave Wylie said, “The contest is one of the highlights of the Rotary year particularly in relation to the many youth support projects that the club undertakes and it is really pleasing to see the confidence that these young women demonstrated in presenting their speeches.”
The awards for the night included gift vouchers from Paper Plus in Howick with the winner also receiving the Brian Hanlon Trophy. Katie Treneman, owner of Paper Plus, said she was really happy to support Rotary “in their efforts to encourage the development of young people in the community”.
President Dave Wylie concluded the evening by saying, “Rotary people are involved in many different community projects while having a great social time together so anyone interested in becoming a member should contact membership director Ian Fox (Phone 021 662 896 or email ian@fox.co.nz).
